COLLATION I.
A treatment of grace is set forth according to its origin, use, and fruit.
Summary. - Introduction, number 1. 2. - Division of the argument, 3. - Part I. On the origin of grace. It descends from above, 4. - And indeed through the Word incarnate, crucified, and inspired, 5-7 - A disposition toward it and horror of sin are required, 8. - Part II. On the use of grace. It ought to be faithful toward God 9. 10. - Manly in itself, 11. - Generous toward one's neighbor, 12. - Part III. On the fruit of grace. This is threefold, 13. - The first is the remission of sins, 14. - The second, the fullness of justice, 15. - The third, the attainment of eternal beatitude, 16. - Hence there is a threefold grace with seven groups of seven, 17.18.
1. We exhort you not to receive the grace of God in vain .
Grace is poured forth upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever. The word proposed in the second place is directed to our Lord Jesus Christ, as is apparent in the Psalm from the preceding and subsequent text. For in the Psalm where these words are written, there is set before them: Beautiful in form above the sons of men: and there follows: Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, etc. Therefore it speaks of Christ, who is blessed, in whom all the nations of the earth are blessed. In your seed shall all nations be blessed, was said to Abraham; and because Christ is the Word, through whom all things are blessed, and he who is blessed by God the Father is blessed by Christ, therefore all things are blessed through Christ.
2. It is said in Ecclesiastes: The words of the mouth of the wise are grace. It is true what is written in John: The Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Christ. For salvation two things are necessary, namely the knowledge of truth and the exercise of virtue. The knowledge of truth is had through the Law, but the exercise of virtue is had through grace. "Virtue is a good quality of the mind, by which one lives rightly, which no one uses badly, which God works in us." The Law relates to grace as the apprehensive power relates to the motive power, and as an instrument relates to operative power. Suppose that a bird had sight for seeing heaven but did not have power in its wings; it could not fly nor reach there. So, however much the Jew glories in the Law, since he is without grace, it is nothing. A craftsman, when he has an instrument by which he works, unless he has operative power in his hands, can do nothing good. O faithless Jew, you have the Law in hand, but unless you have operative power, you think in vain that you possess the Law. Therefore through the Law no one is saved unless grace is present. And thus it is clear that the grace of God is far more excellent than the Law itself.
Previously I spoke to you about the law of the Decalogue, and now I will speak to you about grace: and grace is more necessary for us than the Law; to receive which grace fruitfully, our mother the Church and the Apostle Paul exhort us. And at the beginning we will ask the Lord that our words may serve grace, and that the intention of our mind, if it possesses grace, may be strengthened in words, so that we may be able to say something that is for the praise of God and the salvation of our souls.
3. We exhort you, etc. The Apostle Paul in this brief word rouses us to receive divine grace, to guard the grace received, and to multiply the grace received and guarded. He exhorts us not to receive the grace of God in vain, but to receive it fruitfully: therefore he means to say that we should be ready to receive, guard, and multiply the grace of God. But in order that this exhortation may be fulfilled in us, three things present themselves here for our consideration: first, what is the origin of grace; second, what is the use of grace; and third, what is the fruit of grace. I wish to speak only in the plainest manner I can, so that anyone may be able to grasp it.
4. First I say: if we consider the origin of grace, I ask what is the original principle of grace. It is certain that grace is the best gift and the perfect gift, descending from above from the Father of lights. I construct an argument from the Canonical Epistle of James. I set forth the universal affirmative major premise thus: Every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, descending from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change nor shadow of alteration: but grace, as I shall show in what follows, is the best gift and the perfect gift — everything that I shall say, I wish to order toward proving this minor premise — but if grace is the best gift and the perfect gift: therefore it descends from above from the Father of lights.
5. But by what way does grace descend into men? Job asks, saying: By what way is light spread, and heat divided upon the earth? I respond and say that grace descends upon rational minds through the Word incarnate, through the Word crucified, and through the Word inspired. — Proof. It is said in the Epistle of James: Of his own will he begot us by the Word of truth, that we might be a certain firstfruits of his creatures. Through the Word incarnate there descends to us an abundance of graces: whence in John: Of his fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. It is certain that the original principle, which is God, when he created man in his image and likeness in the state of innocence, created him so near to himself that through the Word uncreated man was formable unto grace. But after man fell through sin, divine wisdom provided a mode of condescension through the Word incarnate, through which man might be adapted unto grace. And because this was accomplished in the womb of the glorious Virgin, therefore it was said to her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: and the Apostle Paul urges those wishing to obtain grace to approach the throne of grace, that is, the glorious Virgin. Let us approach, he says, with confidence to the throne of his grace.
Thus therefore at first sight there meets us the Father of mercies and the mother of mercies and the Son, who is the light of mercies. Thus is manifest the first origination of grace in us, which comes about through the Word incarnate. O most unhappy ones! Those who are ignorant of this beginning cannot have grace.
6. Second, grace descends into us through the Word crucified. Not only were we unfit to receive grace on account of ignorance of the divine precepts, but indeed also on account of our infirmity and powerlessness and concupiscence of earthly things: therefore the Lord willed to set up supports. That he might heal our languors, he descended into us through the Word crucified. Whence the Apostle to the Ephesians: God, who is rich in mercy, on account of his exceeding charity with which he loved us, when we were dead in sins, brought us to life together with Christ, by whose grace you are saved. We have been brought to life in Christ through Christ, because Christ triumphed over death: whence death could not swallow him up, but rather the font of life swallowed up death, according to what was said: I will be your death, O death. In no other way could we be healed and saved. Whence the Apostle to the Galatians: I do not cast aside the grace of God; for if justice is through the Law, then Christ died in vain: but Christ died that he might raise the dead to the reception of life and grace: therefore grace flows into us through the Word incarnate and through the Word crucified.
And the blessed Virgin received this Word full of grace ; and a river of graces went forth from his side, which has the efficacy of healing us.
7. Third, grace arises in us through the Word inspired. However much God sent His Son into the flesh, unless you believe Him crucified, you will not have grace. Whence the Apostle to Titus: Not by works of justice which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the laver of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out abundantly upon us through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Dearly beloved! It is the Holy Spirit who is the giver of graces and the love proceeding from the Father and the Son. Whatever therefore the Father does and the Son suffers, without the Holy Spirit it is nothing. For He Himself joins us to the Father and the Son. Whence the Apostle: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, as regards the second, and the charity of God, as regards the first, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, as regards the third, be with you all. Amen.
8. Therefore, if you wish to have the love of the Son and of the original Principle and of the Gift of the Holy Spirit, dispose yourself to grace. Whence therefore does grace arise? I say that it arises from the Father of lights through the Word incarnate, through the Word crucified, and through the Word inspired. A noble influence, which has its origin from God incarnate. This grace ought to be guarded most carefully: but you lose it through sin. How would you dare to introduce into your house a harlot who would carry off everything you have? You love temporal things: much more ought you to love grace. When someone is worthy of eternal life, through sin he makes himself worthy of eternal death. Such a one must be greatly punished. Whence the Apostle to the Hebrews: He who makes void the Law of Moses dies without any mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more, do you think, does he deserve worse punishments, who has trampled upon the Son of God and has regarded the blood of the covenant as defiled, by which he was sanctified, and has done outrage to the Spirit of grace? If a man sins, he tramples upon the Son of God.
The grace of God therefore descends to us through the Word incarnate, through the Word crucified, and through the Word inspired. Man assails this most noble influence through sin. For all the things in the world, man ought not to commit sin. Not without reason did God will to be tempted. It is said in Ecclesiasticus: Flee from sin as from the face of a serpent. As a serpent pouring out venom kills, so sin kills the life of grace. - It is now clear what the origin of grace is.
9. Let us see what the use of grace is. You ought to understand that the use of grace is for this, that it may lead us into progress: but for this it is required that the use of grace be faithful with respect to God, manly in itself, and generous toward one's neighbor.
First, I say, the use of grace ought to be faithful with respect to God. Whence the Apostle: But when it pleased him who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace, I did not immediately acquiesce to flesh and blood. Faithful is he who does not diminish the gift which he receives on behalf of another. But when you seek something more principally than God, you are not faithful. Therefore the Apostle says: I did not acquiesce to flesh and blood, that is, I did not seek carnal glory, but only divine glory. The experts in optics say that if a ray falls perpendicularly upon a smooth and polished body, it must necessarily be reflected back along the same path. The influx of grace is like a perpendicular ray — I speak of sanctifying grace, because gratuitous grace is like a ray of incidence; it is therefore necessary that whoever truly receives the grace of God should render glory back to God. Whence if you preach for your own glory, it profits you nothing. On that passage of Ecclesiastes: To the place whence the rivers go forth, they return: Bernard says that "the origin of fountains is the sea; the origin of virtues and knowledge is Christ." He says therefore: To the place whence the rivers go forth, namely of graces, they return, that they may flow again. For just as a fountain has no duration unless it maintains a continuous connection with its source, nor indeed does light, so the grace of the Holy Spirit cannot flourish in the soul except through its return to its original principle.
10. Humility preserves this return and connection, and pride dissolves it. Whence in the Epistle of James: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And what is the reason? Who is humble?
Certainly, he who attributes all the goods he has to his original principle; but the proud man attributes all things to himself. The humble man remains in continuity with his origin, but the proud man is severed from it and as it were says: this I did not receive from you. And therefore Lucifer became dark, because he withdrew from his original principle; but Christ led himself back to his original principle through humility, and therefore he was radiant. — For this reason it is said in Ecclesiasticus: The greater you are, humble yourself in all things. You are an archbishop or a bishop: do you wish to find grace? Humble yourself. Otherwise we are thieves, unless we humble ourselves. If a king had enriched someone, and that person refused to acknowledge that he had received his goods from him, he would be most unfaithful and would deserve to be stoned. We see some who have been exalted by God, who nonetheless raise themselves up against God, saying: Our hand is exalted, and God has not done all these things. Such men lose both the land of the living and the grace of the Holy Spirit.
11. The second distinction of the use of grace is that it ought to be manly in itself. Whence the Apostle to the Hebrews: It is best to establish the heart with grace, he does not say the stomach. At other times you have labored to strengthen your bodies. He who wishes to have strong arms must exercise himself in works of strength. Similarly, he who wishes to have stabilizing grace must exercise himself in works of virtue. The Apostle, when he said: By the grace of God I am what I am, adds: I have labored more abundantly than all of them. Do you then praise yourself, O Apostle? No; whence he adds: Not I, but the grace of God with me. It is a noble example that some recognize their virtue and do not grow proud of it. How virtuously some act with the grace of the Holy Spirit!
Samson with his hair was the strongest of all: his strength went beyond nature. And why was his strength in seven locks of hair? I say that by the seven locks is signified the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit, through whom his strength is made firm. But when he lay in the lap of Delilah and no longer had his hair, he became in strength like other men. Give me one person without grace who could endure what blessed Lawrence endured. For man can do nothing without grace, and nothing is so hard that man cannot endure it with grace. Whence the Apostle: I can do all things in him who strengthens me.
12. Third, the use of grace ought to be generous toward one's neighbor. Whence in Matthew: Freely you have received, freely give. O sun, why do you not sell your light? And you, O Seine, why do you not sell your drops of water?
Surely, because it has received freely, therefore it shares freely. Only a wretched man sells the grace bestowed upon him. Whence did this selling first enter? Surely from Simon the magician, to whom the Apostle Peter said: May your money perish with you. The chief of the Apostles, blessed Peter, says: Each one, as he has received grace, ministering it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Dionysius determines for us the use of grace in the angelic and celestial hierarchy and says that if the higher Angels were to contain themselves and were unwilling to flow into the lower Angels, then they would close off for themselves the way of God's influence. If the good that you have from God you deny to another, and you see one who is poor in life or in merit, you are not worthy of eternal life, and your life is most wretched and swinish. — It is difficult for a man to be faithful, manly, and generous: therefore many err concerning the use of grace.
13. But what is the fruit of all these things? He who plants a vineyard plants it for the sake of fruit. Now the fruit of grace is threefold, which can never be found except in him who is in grace. The first is the remission of guilt, the second is the fullness of justice, and the third is the perpetuation of the blessed life.